The Corpse and His Lady
by liz-abeth.tumblr
Summary: Something sets him apart from the rest of the corpses
1. Chapter 1

I wish I could remember who I really am. But I can't. Because I'm just a corpse.

I must have been someone important. I don't remember much from the world before, but I know the clothing I'm wearing must have been from some designer before the harsh reality of this world took a toll on them.

There is also a silver ring in nearly perfect condition on the ring finger of my right hand. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I can almost feel a sensation pulsating from the ring, almost as if it was containing some form of life.

From the glimpses of myself I catch in dirt-covered mirrors, I wasn't the worst looking corpse around, however I wouldn't consider myself the luckiest by any means even if all of my limbs and organs are intact and my blond hair isn't as dirty as it could be.

Something sets me apart from most of the corpses, and not in a good way.

My…hunting habits are unusual compared to a normal corpse I guess you could say. I try to make the human's death quick and painless and then I eat. Most corpse enjoy keeping their meal alive for as long as they can. I guess you could say it's their version of fresh food.

I never spare my food's brain. I don't want them to come back as one of us, as a corpse. I often find myself wishing my attacker ate mine, sparing me this 'life' of a walking hell.

Other corpses insist on increasing our numbers, as the humans have begun banding together making themselves stronger and more difficult to attack.

I don't want to kill people, but there's really no way around it. I guess that's what sets me apart. I can almost _feel._

The majority of us corpses have made a home out a run down college campus on the outskirts of the city. I can't remember how I got here. I often wonder if I was a student here before.

After aimlessly shuffling through the campus one evening, I discovered a music room in one of the abandoned buildings. There's a dust covered piano in the center of the room and several other instruments can be found throughout the room. I isolate myself here most of the time, like I am now.

I sit at the piano. I try to play. My fingers itch to pick up a melody I must have known from my past life. Instead an ugly tune echoes through the room as my hand heavily falls onto the keys in an ungodly manor.

If I could sigh, I'd sigh very deeply right now.

That's when I feel it. A tingling sensation from the pit of my stomach spreads throughout my body. I need to eat.

I slowly shuffle away from the piano and out of the room…down the hall…out the door. I see him in the sad excuse for a courtyard He's my best friend. I don't know his full name, but he knows it started with an N. I wish I had that much of a name.

He sees me, too, shuffling along to meet me half way.

I grunt and manage to move my arm in an ungraceful wave-like motion and he does the same.

So here we stand, swaying slightly back and forth making meaningless sounds in an attempt to have a conversation with one another. Sometimes, rarely, we manage to say actual words.

"H—hungry" I spit out.

"D—dude." he almost breathes deeply, clearly struggling to form words. "S—same."

I grunt, motioning toward the school entrance. N nods and adjusts his red baseball cap, clearly a human habit he carried along with him in this afterlife.

We manage to form a decently sized group as we make our way toward the city. It's nearly mid-afternoon by the time we make it to where the city really starts.

The humans are smart, given that they've built a giant wall around the heart of the city to keep us out, but they aren't _that_ smart. They still can't defend themselves entirely. Sure they have weapons, but they also still have fear. We use that to our advantage.

The wall may keep us out, but it can't keep them in.

There's stuff outside the walls that they need. They make supply runs, we make food runs. It's a cycle, a predator and a prey cycle.

We're shuffling by a small food market when we smell them. I think the letters are CVS, but I can't read. It doesn't matter much now. We follow our noses into the store. I can hear them.

I may not have much of a brain, but I can still understand them.

"We _have_ to move, Nate. Now." It was a female voice, stern yet deliciously sweet.

"We need to get the supplies first." I assume that would be Nate speaking.

"She's right, Nate. We don't have the numbers for a fight." Another female voice spoke out, this one carried more sass in her voice. But she said what we needed to hear.

We rounded the corner of an isle.

As soon as they saw us, bullets went flying. A corpse just in front of me was shot in the head, stumbling back and knocking me sideways as the rest of the pack bombarded the humans.

I propped myself up on my elbow in an attempt to get up.

That's when I saw her.

I swear time stopped and it was only the two of us in that store.

Her jet black hair was loosely tied back into two pig tails. She was wearing a white t-shirt, a faded green jacket and ripped, form fitting jeans that were tucked in to what I want to say were combat boots.

She wasn't even looking at me, but I was lost in her blue eyes.

She had a determined look on her face as she cocked her gun and aimed it at a member of the pack.

I wanted her alive. Nothing else mattered.

I got up much faster than I thought and staggered toward her, but a jolting force in my right shoulder pushed me back a few steps. I have been shot.

I turned toward my right to see a male with burgundy hair tied back in a bun standing on top of one of the isle dividers.

"Take that, mother—"

I had never moved so quickly before, but I grabbed the guys ankles and pulled him down. He didn't stand much of chance.

I smashed his head against the ground multiple times. I needed the brain.

Forgive me, I forgot to mention earlier. When we eat the brains, we can dream. Well, we can see parts of their memories. It's as close to dreaming as we can get. It's as close as to being human as I can get.

I shove some of the man's brains into my mouth. I know, gross. But as I shoot into this man's mind I see _her._

 _"_ _What do you think of this one, Nate?" the girl smiles as she shows Nate a drawing of a dress._

 _"_ _Beautiful, Mari" he says "but not as beautiful as it would be on you."_

She's a heavy presence in this man's mind. I need more. I shove as much of his brains as I can into the pockets of my jacket and pants. I get up and shuffle around the corner. There's a number of corpses on the ground, but some of them are feeding on their prey.

If I had a heart beat, it'd be racing. I had to find her. I looked around, eyes hunting for her. A gun shot to my left caught my attention. A member of the pack fell to the ground, revealing the jet-black haired beauty with fear draining the blood from her face. She's on the floor, but she's safe.

I wipe as much grime off of me as I can as I make my way toward her.

She sees me. She reaches into her boot and throws a knife at me. It lands near my recent gun shot wound. Ironic.I pull the knife out with ease.

I keep moving.

She curls further into herself.

I crouch down as I reach her. I summon all my strength to form words.

"M—Mari."

Any blood that's left completely drains from her face as her blue eyes pierce into mine. It's then that I notice how quiet the store has gotten. The living are dead, the dead are feasting, the dead are living.

I dig a finger from my left hand into the knife wound, gathering whatever you'd call corpse blood and I smear it across her neck and chest. She doesn't smell like a human. Good.

"K—keep. S—a—safe."

I stood up, lowering my hand in an attempt to be a gentleman and help her up.

She stood on her own, slowly, eyeing me carefully. In my peripheral vision I see N and the remaining members of the hunting pack making their way toward us.

"F—follow." My voice is low.

She did.


	2. Chapter 2

I have no idea what I am doing.

She's nervous, I can tell by the look on her face. But she's not making a run for it, which is good. If she ran, I'm not sure I'd be able to keep her safe.

She's walking close to me. I like to think it's because she trusts me, but her eyes are trained on the ground and I can tell she's focusing on matching our pace. I didn't realize how small Mari was. She barely reaches my shoulder in height and she seems pretty thin. What do humans eat? I wonder if that's why her and her pack went out.

We're almost out of the city when we spot a group of Akuma. Akuma are relentless corpses. I'm not entirely sure where the word came from, probably from the world before. Some say they were the ones who started this whole mess.

N says he heard that they were the first affected and they bit innocent people merely to build an army of the dead. To be honest, I don't think they can help it. It's almost as if something or someone is controlling their movement. I like to think there is still hope for them, but what do I know.

Nevertheless, we do our best to stay as far away as we can from Akuma.

I glance at Mari. I wonder if humans can tell the difference between corpses and Akuma. I do my best to position myself in a more protective stance, shielding her from the Akuma's sight as we pass by.

I'm just glad I was able to cover up her scent.

It's nearly dusk when we approach the rotting campus. Most of the pack branches off. N glances at me and then at Mari. If his facial muscles still worked properly I know he'd be giving us a smirk. He thinks I turned her for…reasons. He's done that before.

But I'm not N. I like to think I'm still a gentleman. I could never turn someone as beautiful as Mari.

But apparently I can lead her to her apparent death. It's only now that I realize I took Mari back home. Where hundreds of corpses roam freely.

I can't hide her scent forever. Eventually my wounds will reach the point where the stench won't be strong enough.

What. The. Actual. Hell. Am. I. Doing.

I glance down at Mari. She has strange look on her face, almost as if she recognizes the campus. Maybe she was a student here before. Maybe we both were, maybe that's why she looked so familiar.

Deep down I knew that couldn't be true.

I've run into hundreds of corpses and my fair share of humans and not a single one has ever sparked something the way she has. Mari's different. I have to do whatever it takes to protect her.

That's when I think to take Mari to my music room. By now, most corpses know that I have claimed that area for myself. Sure, they wander by here and there but I'm almost always alone. She'd be as safe as she could be there.

"C-come. Safe." I try to give her a comforting smile to ease her nerves.

I don't even know if I can smile.

Once we reach the music room, Mari is shaking.

"D-don't. W-worry." I stare at her. "Won't. Eat."

She stares back. She's stopped shaking. Mari straightens her stance, appearing more confident.

"What are you?"

I break eye contact.

"I could kill you right now."

I want to say, 'Ouch. Wow. I save your life and you can't even say thank you?' but instead I manage a shrug. She's right. She could. Lord knows I couldn't even try to harm her.

Suddenly I recall a discovery I made earlier in the music room. I shuffle toward a closet in the corner. I can feel her eyes on me. She pivots as I move, refusing to have her back toward me. Smart girl.

I manage to grip the door handle enough to pull the closet door open. The closet contains small, extremely worn out pillows. I guess the music students would place these on their seats when they'd practice for long periods of time. On the shelf there is a thin gray blanket. I don't know what they used it for in a music room, but I was thankful they had it.

I grabbed some pillows and tossed them on the floor. After I grabbed the blanket off of the shelf, I closed the closet.

"You've got to be kidding me." Mari must be thinking the same thing N was. I raise my hand, shaking my head no in a panicked manor.

"F-for you. Humans." I pause trying to gather the words for a coherent sentence. "Humans sleep."

Her gaze softens. I stretch out my arm, offering her the blanket.

Slowly, she walks over and accepts the peace offering. I study her movements as she cautiously rearranges the pillows closer together. The moon is out now, peeking through the small windows that can't open. She then lies on top of the pillows and spreads the blanket over herself. Her eyes glare into my own.

I get it. She wants to be alone.

I head toward the hallway, closing the door behind me. I lean up against the door, sinking down slowly to sit against it was no other way in or out of the music room besides the door. I could keep her safe this way.

I reach into my pocket and pull out a little bit more of the brain from earlier.

—

Suddenly I'm riding a bike. It must be summer. How nice it would be to actually feel the warm sun on my skin.

"Catch me if you can, slowpokes!" a voice calls out, I know it's Mari's. She zooms passed me. Her pig tails flying behind her. She's giggling.

"Oh girl, I know you didn't just say that." It was the same sassy voice from earlier.

"Don't tell me you're scared, Alya." The voice comes from me, but it isn't my voice. It's Nate's.

A girl with dark skin, ombre'd red hair and glasses makes her way into my peripheral vision. Must be Alya.

"Don't tell me you're just going to let Mari win!" She sasses back.

I don't know if I did. Before I can respond, the vision changes.

I'm now on a park bench. Mari's next to me.

"I lost someone I care about Nathanial." She wipes a tear from her eye.

"We've all been there." I say as I put an arm around her, pulling her close.

"I saw it happen."

"Aw, Mari…." I try to comfort her.

"There were too many corpses for him to fight off. He was trying to protect me. He was good at that. I let him down. I couldn't protect that stupid cat." She was sobbing.

Nate's mind wonders why she'd be this upset over losing her pet at this point, but he doesn't say anything. Whoever this stupid cat was had a special place in her hurting heart.

—

I realize that's why she is so skeptical of me. A corpse took away someone she loved.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know how long humans sleep for, but I feel like it's been forever. Weird, since time doesn't really matter to me anymore. I'm not sure why I'm so…anxious for Mari to wake up, but I decide to take a short walk down the hall to take things off my mind.

At the end of the hallway there is a window that overlooks most of the campus. The music building is interestingly built on the only hill within campus grounds. Even though I am on the first floor of the building, I can see nearly everything.

The campus is illuminated beautifully by the moonlight. In the courtyard, several corpses are shuffling along. I think one of them is N, but I can't be sure. He usually finds a female corpse to spend the night with after we hunt in the city.

I begin to wonder what the campus would be like if this whole mess of a world didn't exist.

I imagine myself as a student returning for my second year. I like to think I'm at least permanently stuck in my college years.

The campus would breathe with life. Students would socialize in the courtyard, actively use the library, you name it.

I imagine that I'm sitting on one of the benches reading a text book before class. I wonder what my major was. Or would have been.

N would approach me then. Probably making some smart-ass comment about how I'd be a nerd for reading.

I don't really remember what reading was like, but I know it must have been something I liked to do in my past life. There are times where I go to the library and stare at the multitude of books to pass time. I can't make out what the titles are, the letters blur together, so I make them up in my head and imagine stories to match them.

N would also probably start talking about some girl he just met.

He'd point over at a group of first years, saying something about how good they look. I'd glance to where he's pointing, but only one student would catch my eye. One with black pigtails and big blue eyes and a smile as bright as the sun.

Wait, that's actually the sun rising over campus.

I snap out of my imagination and make my way back toward the music room. Just as I'm about to return to my slumped position against the door, I hear movement from within.

She must be awake. I shrug to myself and do my best to attempt a knock.

The room falls silent, and there is a long pause, but finally the door opens just a crack. She takes a deep breath.

"I guess I should thank you for saving me back in the city." Finally, there it is. She won't look me in the eyes yet, she's probably still a bit frightened. I know why she would be, but I have to try to get her to trust me.

"We-welcome." My voice sounds dry.

There's another long pause. Then, suddenly, her big blue eyes are looking directly into mine. She's got this puppy-dog look and God, she is adorable.

"I-I'm awfully hungry." She says, shyly.

What do humans eat, again?

"Can I go find some food?" She asks.

A panicked feeling washes over my entire dead body. She can't leave, it isn't safe.

"N-no." Before she can protest I continue, "corpses out. Not s-safe."

I wish I could pat myself on the back for actually making some sense.

"Well then, you're going to have to get it." There's a smirk on her face.

I nod and begin to make my way toward the door that leads outside. I remember seeing some vending machines in the lobby of a dormitory not too far from the music building. I head in that direction.

I'll have to break the glass somehow. It would look very odd for a corpse to be breaking into a vending machine since we can't even enjoy the taste of its contents. I hope no other corpses are around to see it. I do my best to think through an excuse anyway just in case.

I'm about 15 feet away from the dormitory when I smell it.

A sweet, delicious scent fills the air. For a moment, I forget what I am even supposed to be doing and begin to feel a slight tingling sensation in my stomach.

I know corpses appear to be bottomless pits, but we actually don't feed unless we're starving. I shouldn't be starving, I just ate yesterday. I mean, sometimes when we smell humans we—

Oh, _shit_.

 _Shit_ , that's her.

I take off, I'm moving much faster than the average corpse and that shocks me. I follow my nose. She's not too far from the courtyard. It doesn't take me long to spot her.

And I'm not the only corpse who has.

She's clinging to a pillar. Several corpses are slowly shuffling towards her. I don't waste any time. I approach her from behind, knocking down some of the elderly corpses that were coming from the same direction. I do my best to gently tap her.

Clearly not my best idea. I must have startled her, she turned around and instantly impacted a kick to my groin.

What was this weird sensation? Was…was this pain I was feeling? Corpses don't feel bodily pain. I'll have to come back to that later. She's got her hand over her mouth, an almost apologetic look in her eyes.

I do my best to give an aggravated glare but I have no idea how that turned out. I dig into my wound from yesterday and wipe as much grime as I can across her face.

It's my little ha-ha to her for trying to run away. She gives me a disgusted look. I shrug. She doesn't smell too much like a human anymore, so it'll do.

"Be…dead." I mutter. "Be…like me." I turn, making my way back toward the music building. After a few steps I look over my shoulder to see if she's following. She is.

She gets the hint, but she over does it. She's got her arms out straight, she's walking like she has a stick up her ass, and she's growling.

That's nearly insulting. Actually, I'm embarrassed. Sure, we grunt meaninglessly most of the time but we don't growl. And we definitely don't walk like that… at least I hope that's not how I actually look. I shoot her a harsh glance.

"Not…like me."

She smiles slightly, then she tones it down. It's not perfect, but what do you expect from a human.

Once we're clear of the courtyard, she speaks up.

"I really am hungry, though."

Most of the corpses have shrugged off the scent, returning to their routines. However, a large group of corpses appears to be gathering near the dormitory I was trying to go to earlier.

I decide to take her to the cafeteria instead.

Once inside, she goes straight to the storage room. She rummages through some shelves before excitedly grabbing a can. I have no idea what she is eating, but she's smiling as she takes a bite.

"I haven't had peaches in forever."

She looks at me then, a questionable look in her eyes.

"Have you ever had peaches?"

I shake my head.

"Well, you're missing out. I mean, these aren't as good as fresh peaches, but they'll do."

I watch her as she eats. She's beginning to scrape the bottom of the can. I decide to grab a few cans off of the shelf to bring back with us. She does the same.

It doesn't take us long to return back to the music room. I think a large group of corpses went hunting today, there does not seem to be many on the campus.

I close the door behind us once we enter the music room. Mari sets the cans on the ground and looks up at me.

"What are you?" she asks.

"C-corpse." I look away from her as I say it. The word is like vinegar on my tongue.

There's a long silence between us before Mari speaks again.

"No, no you're something else. You saved me. You could have torn my limbs apart in a blink of an eye, but you saved me instead."

I shrugged. I didn't know what to say. I still don't really know what I'm doing, why I saved her, why I brought her back _here_.

"Shrugging doesn't answer any questions." She rolls her eyes. "Do you have a name?"

"Can't…Can't really remember it."

"Well, Mr. Undead." I cringed.

"Okay, not Mr. Undead… Um… How about you pick your name?"

"Y-you pick." I half smile as I say, "Normal one."

"Well, I had a friend once who saved me a bunch of times. You're starting to remind me of him." She took a deep breath and eyed me cautiously. "So, how about Chat?"

I have a name. I could feel myself actually smile. Mari smiled too, but it quickly died.

"Okay, Chat. How long are you keeping me here? I can't live here."

Shit. That's not the direction I wanted this to go. She can't leave, it's only been a day. I have to think of something quick.

"F-few more days." I shrug. "They need t-to…forget scent". I nod my head in the direction of the door, hopefully getting the point across that the other corpses may still be hunting for a human.

Her eyes fall to floor quickly, but suddenly snap up to meet mine. She gives me a genuine smile.

"Well, Chat. What is there to do around here for fun?"


End file.
